another nightmare..

Mr. Stevens was giving a demonstration in his Physics class.

I paid close attention to him, until I heard the shrieking of students and the discordant sound of an alarm.

I tore my gaze from the demo to the classroom door. Through the plexiglass window, I could see flames erupting from the ceiling, black smoke wrapping itself around the previously clean hallway. No one acted; no one did anything. I took charge and grabbed the fire extinguisher, ran outside, and attempted to stunt the fire's growth. My success was limited; I chased students out whilst fighting the fire, a feat that I did not think was possible.

I ran back and forth from both entrances of the science building, taming the fires, so that the students and teachers in their science classes could escape the flaming building. When everyone escaped, I felt a sigh of relief come up, only to be choked by one realization.

The fire extinguisher ran out.

Crimson walls of fire blocked both of my escape routes. There was no place to take refuge in this gasoline-doused inferno. I grew dizzy from the smoke's fumes, filling my body, depriving my body and brain of oxygen.

The flames soon enveloped me. The acrid smell of burning flesh lingered in my nose whilst I screamed in agony from the pain of seared, burnt flesh.

I thought to myself, "At least you saved those people. Maybe you'll be forgiven now. Maybe someone will care.."

I was trapped in a hell on earth. Forgotten by those who I saved, forgotten by everyone.. No one came to my rescue. No one bothered to find me, even after I had saved so many people's lives.

And the burning continued until what remained was no longer human. A skeleton hidden within the ashes of a corpse's flesh.